Find Your Personal Training Niche for Greater Success

The health and fitness industry is a fast-paced and fun career path for driven and helpful people. The most successful fitness professionals are more than just a coach who puts a client through a workout. Truly engaging with clients and helping them be successful means personal trainers are a life coach, a weight loss specialist, a motivator, and, potentially, and online fitness coach all rolled into one!

A common mistake many trainers make is trying to be all of these things to everyone! To be great at something, it takes laser focus. For many fitness professionals, this means choosing a niche market—a specific type of client—to service and becoming an expert at doing so. A jack of all trades and a master of one!

Turning Your Passion into a Career

Once you've decided that fitness and, more importantly, helping others, is your passion, getting certified is step number one. During the certification process a fitness professional will learn functional anatomy, program design, coaching skills, motivation strategies, and even how to build their fitness business.

Then, it's time to hit the floor...the fitness floor that is! Many trainers start off in a gym or studio setting. This is a great opportunity to get comfortable delivering training sessions, learn about the personal training business, and start to determine what type of client you enjoy training the most.

With the right effort, any dedicated trainer can grow their training business like a pro! There are many opportunities to train clients in groups, start working with specific populations, or become an online personal trainer who utilizes Facebook groups, video calls, and email to service clients. However, try not to get overwhelmed by the number of potential clients available to you! It's up to you to narrow down your ideal client and start finding your niche.

Who Do You Love to Train?

As you are working with clients, ask yourself, "Who do I love to train?" Do you love working with youth or pushing athletes to be their best? Or perhaps your target audience is seniors. There's no right or wrong target market for a personal trainer. If you are passionate about the fitness niche and the typical client in it, it is sure to be a profitable niche for you!

In many cases, fitness professionals can and should expand their knowledge to learn more about their target client. Advanced certification programs are available for everything from corrective exercise and sports performance to yoga and group fitness. Holding a trainer certification above and beyond a basic certified personal trainer credential shows you are knowledgeable, invested, and helps to differentiate you from other fitness professionals. Plus, there is only one you, so your personality and passion will only add to your coaching business!

The Importance of Having a Niche

When it comes to exercise, clients want results when working with a trained professional. Fitness trainers who work within a niche can perfect their craft and typically get their clients better results! You'll also become far more recognizable. Think about the niches these well-known personal trainers have grown into:

• Billy Blanks- Tae Bo and Martial Arts Group Fitness Master

• Jane Fonda- Aerobics and Group Fitness Queen

• Tony Horton- P90X Founder and Virtual Training Extraordinaire

• Shaun T- Insanity At-Home Fitness Master

• Jillian Michaels- Weight Loss Specialist (from TV's Biggest Loser)

• Shauna Harrison- Yoga and General Health Guru

No matter your specific niche, when people in your area think of fitness, they should think of you! In the meantime, you as the fitness professional should be thinking about how you'll reach them as well.

Target Marketing for Growth

Once you've decided on your ideal niche, you'll have to break down what the ideal client looks like. Where and how do they exercise? How often are they active? What are their needs and goals in general? Answering these questions makes you more than an ordinary trainer—you are now a true coach! Successful fitness professionals can offer solutions for more than just a workout rut. They offer essential life coaching that can encompass exercise, nutrition, mental health, weight loss, and motivational coaching for each client.

Then what?

Enter the marketing strategy. It's not enough to know who you want to train, but fitness trainers will have to reach them. Marketing to a specific population can be done via email, a website, or even social media like Facebook and Instagram. There are endless ways to create content and provide it in a meaningful way to your ideal client whether you train them in-person or online. The ISSA Online Coach Certification is filled with tips, tricks, ad resources for marketing and effectively taking your personal training business virtual!

Check out these unique ISSA blog posts for more on marketing and social media for personal trainers:

• Free Email Marketing Tools for Your Fitness Business

• Social Media Marketing for Personal Trainers

When you can reach your target audience andprovide valuable content of interest to them, you establish yourself as a fitness authority to that group of people. In the fitness industry, that equates to more clients who trust you, promote you to others, and, ultimately, big business growth!

If you're ready to take the leap and make fitness your reality, check out the ISSA Personal Trainer Certification today! For those who are already certified, it's time to find your niche and begin your advanced credential now!